December – uhm something

Jimin

            “You’re late.”

I am late.

          I raised my head up and looked at Aeri as I sat down on the bench breathing heavily. I have been running for the past thirty-ish minutes. Sure, I could have taken the cab and, y’know, not be tired. Maybe in that way, I’d get here in forty-five instead of thirty because of the usual New York’s Original nighttime traffic. On the other hand, hindi naman siguro ako dapat nagmamadali ngayon if I didn’t take a bite from that notebook kanina sa classroom. This is not regret. It’s more of like, I don’t know; different from what I am used to.

            “Where have you been?”, Aeri looked at me.

            “School. Do you have—any water?”, I replied as I was breathing heavily.

          She opened her bag and took out a metal flask. Y’know, like the ones the bad guys always use in the movies. I raised my eyebrows and gave her a confused look when she was handing it to me.

           “You’re really giving me alcohol?”

           “It’s water, .”

           “You keep water in a metal flask?”

           “Yeah, makes me look cooler.”

           “Huh. Whatever.”, I replied as I took the bottle, opened it and had a drink.

        I am so glad Aeri was here to save the day once again. I first met her when we were little. You could say that she had always been a savior of mine. Siya rin mostly yung nagturo sakin magsalita ng English nung maliit pa kami. It was always a dream of ours to spend a Christmas in New York City. We’ve seen all the movies and the show and we reckoned that maybe, it would actually be so cool to experience it personally. Never did I imagine that we’d actually be living here amidst all the buildings and the noise. So, ever since na nakarating kami dito, which is, around two years by now, we’ve always made it a thing where we go to the park every single day to watch the group that does the carols.

           “Why are you late?”

           "Why are you early?"

           She gave me an angry look.

           “Got caught up, y’know, school stuff.”

           “Yoo Jimin? Naiwan sa school kasi gumawa ng “school stuff”?”, sagot ni Aeri at oo, may kasama pang air quotes para mas dama ko raw.

           “Oo naman.”

           “Hah!”, she replied bago ngumiti at natawa.

 

ONE! TWO! THREE!

Joy to the world, the Lord has come

Let earth receive her King

Let every heart prepare Him room

And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing

And heaven, and heaven and nature sing …

 

          Almost everyone sa paligid namin stood up to see who were singing while me and Aeri pretty much did the same. We were pretty far away but we could hear their voices. Sobrang synchronized nila that you could tell, even if hindi ka sure, na they actually prepared. The medley and the tune were sung almost perfectly. What makes it perfect though is that they were wearing Christmas themed costumes. Yung isa naka Santa outfit while the others were dressed either as the elves or the deer. Aaaaand there were two of them who were both running and scrambling para maibaba ng mabilisan yung mga bag nila. I guess they were late. They look out of placed bago ko narealize kung ano yung outfit nila.

 

            “Are those two part of the group?”, tanong ko kay Aeri.

            “Must be? Naka-outfit sila eh. Though I can’t make up what they’re wearing or who they’re portraying.”

 

          One of the girls ran to the far left side and one stayed sa far right ng group which is the side nearest to where we were standing. Only then I realized what they were wearing.

 

They were dressed as Christmas trees.

 

           I suddenly burst into smiles and laughter. Their costume, despite how silly it looks, is actually pretty clever AND cute at the same time. The girl near us clicked a button at her pockets which made the Christmas lights taped at her clothing light up and sparkle. Everyone cheered when she did that and she gave a big smile to everyone. I took out my camera and snapped a photo of the group that was doing the caroling. I took the polaroid film that came out, shook it, and placed it safely in my bag.

          I was staring at her – Uhm, at everyone and seeing how happy everyone looked, napangiti ako. I wanted to stay there forever, where everything is slow, wala kang iniisip tapos yung paligid mo is full of smiles. Hindi ko napansin na naka-titig na pala ‘ko kay Christmas Tree girl which I immediately broke off since she saw me and gave me a smile while singing.

I let out a small cough.

            “You alright?”

          I nodded in reply kay Aeri. Pagkatapos ng kanta, everyone bursted into cheer and claps as coins were thrown in the box the group has in front of them which has a big sign that says “FOR NYC’S HOMELESS”. Mas lalo akong napangiti since I think ito yung unang beses na nakita ko silang gumawa ng charity work. After a few minutes the small crowd went silent again.

 

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright …

 

It was the walking Christmas Tree who was singing alone and everyone was listening. Her voice was very